While U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told attendees at a Hattiesburg, Mississippi, high school that defending the constitution was top priority, a member of his entourage was in the audience thumbing her nose at it - with the Justice's blessing.

Deputy federal marshal Melanie Rube ordered an Associated Press reporter and another from the Hattiesburg American to erase their recordings of Scalia's speech because Scalia didn't want to be taped.

According to a Supreme Court spokesperson, Scalia and his posse set their own rules of coverage, but The Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press see things differently. The advocacy group says Rube effectively trampled the Privacy Protection Act; AP Mississippi bureau chief Frank Fisher points out that the behaviour of the Scalia camp "doesn't show a lot of respect for the first amendment."

Scalia made headlines last year for refusing to allow press coverage of a ceremony at which he was being lauded for his defence of free speech.

» Scott Saxon